Razor blade holder for sharpening



Dec. 25, 1945. P. c. RHEGAS 2,391,741

RAZOR BLADE HOLDER FOR SHARPENING Filed April 5, 1944 INVENTOR. gl-kj'zBY 4 A. 2 M

Patented Dec. 25, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE RAZORBEADEIHOLDERIFOR' SHARPENING Beter (2.. Rhegas, Detroit; Mich:Application April 3-, 1944,.seria1'No...529.31s-

7. Claims.

This invention relates toan improvedholder fora razor blade during;honing.

This improved holder is adapted'to support a razor blade, of the safetyrazor type, in such a manner that the beveled edgeof'the blade may beproperly and accurately'sharpened.

An object is'to provide a holder which. is simple and inexpensive andwhich willso' support a blade; such" as the thin Wafer-type of blade, asfor example a Gillette blade, that the honing: operation may be properlycarried out.

A further object is to provide a holder'having. a base-which is adaptedto' support a razor blade of the character described with an' edgeportion of the blade projectingforwardlybeyond the forward edge of thebase and in aaplane substan-- tiallyparallel thereto wherebysuch portionof the blade will normally clear the surface uponwhich the base rests,but such portionis adapted r to be-resistingly depressed to bring its"beveled edge to bear upon the surface upon: which the base rests.

That portion of the blade projecting-forwardly of the forward edge ofthe'ho'lder'may. be depressed manually tobringits bevele'ded e. intobearing honing contact with the surface upon which thebase rests. It maybe depressed by direct pressure of the fingers of the operatorthereagainst or depressing meansmay be;pro' vided'which means is adaptedtobear against the blade adjacent to itsforward edge-and forwardly ofthe holder to urge such forward beveled edge of the blade against thesurface upon which the blade rests. Such depressing means is adapted tourge the beveleded'ge of the blade throughout its length against thehoning surface.

A large number of devices have been developed to' support the wafer-typeof safetyrazor blade to sharpen the blade. One difliculty attending thesharpening-of a blade ofthis'type is to so support the blade at alltimes during the honing operation that it willbe accurately sharpened.It is not an uncommon disadvantage pres:- ent in many; of these priorart" devices: that a blade may be properly supportedxat one time andimproperly supported at another time, and: the particular manner inwhich the-blade supportis held bythe. operator may determine whether-ornot the. sharpening operation is properly carried out.

One object of this invention isto provide-ads vice wherein a bladesupportedthereby will. always be'so supported that the sharpeningoperation will be:properly-' carried out; This improved holder isadapted to rest" flatupon a honing'surface andto bemoved back and forthacross such surfacenduring the sharpening operation. The honing surfacemaybe of any desired'character.- The blade carried bythe. holder is sosupported that .when it is urged at such an angle thereto thattheforwardbeveled edge only of the blade will be brought into honingcontact with the surface. The device is soconstructed and soproportioned as to insure the accomplishment of the above end.

The construction is such that the holder may be. moved back and forthover a flat honingsurface with the; base resting fiat upon such. surfaceand thebeveled. edgeofthe blade may be resist-. ingly depressed againstsuch honing surface in one direction. of movement of the holderthereover while in theopposite direction of movement of the holder'theaforward edge of the blade may be released to assume a normal;position of parallelism with the base and clear the honing surface.-

Other objects, advantages, and meritorious features 'will more fullyappear from. the description, appended claims; and accompanying drawingwherein:

Fig. 1 isa plan of device embodying the inventionshowing'the razor blademounted thereon.

Fig. 2 isa transverse'sectional view taken-on the line 22 of Fig'. 1.

ll)- providedwith upstanding side walls 12 which serve as a handle orfinger gr pp g p rtion. In Figs: 1, 2 and 3. this base is shown asconsistin of an upper layer and a lower layer of material which layersmay be formed of sheet metal or any other suitable material. The lowerlayer is foldedover the upper layer at the rear end as shown at M forsecurement thereto. It is apparent that the base might be formed of asingle sheet of material.

A bladeholding lug l'6 extends upwardly from the base adjacent to itsforward edge. This lug or part i adapted to be received through thelinear slot formed in a razor blade l8. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 such a blade[8 is shown as supported flat upon the base engaged over the lug i6 andprojecting forwardly of the forward edge of the base as shownparticularly in Fig. 2. In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the lug is shown asextending rearwardly as well as upwardly so as to tend to hold the bladedown against the base when the blade is urged forwardly over the baseagainst the lug.

Blade depressing mechanism in the form of a yoke-like element 20 ispivoted at 22 to'the side walls l2. This yoke-like element has a flatfront portion 24 which is of a length to extend through out the lengthof the blade adjacent and parallel to its front margin as shown in Figs.1 and 2. The arms of this yoke 20 lie fiat across the upper surface ofthe blade at the endsasshown in Fig.

These is provided with side walls l2 and with an upwardly projecting lugi6 adapted to engage a blade [8 to support the blade to projectforwardly of the forward edge of the base in a man ner similar to thathereinabove described. Ihis particular base is also shown as formed oftwo thicknesses of sheet metal and the folded over edge I4 of the outerthickness receives there under, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, aspring element 30. This spring element is adapted to engage the rearportion of the blade to hold the same yieldingly downwards against thebase as shown in Figs. 6 and '7.

Fig. 4 shows the front portion 24 of the pivoted yoke 20 as being swungdownwardly depressing the blade so as to bring the forward beveled edgeof the blade into engagement with the honing surface 32 upon which thebase rests. An operator' may grip the side walls i2 of the base with onehand and with one or more fingers urge the front portion 24 of the yokedownwardly to bring the beveled edge of the blade into honing contactwith the surface 32. The arms 30 of the yoke serve to hold the bladefiat against the base as shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

Inasmuch as the portion 24 of the yoke 20 has a length equal to thelength of the blade and engages the blade adjacent to its forwardbeveled edge, the blade is held against the honing surface throughoutits length evenly and properly.

In Figs. 5, 6 and 7 the forwardly projecting portion of the blade may beurged down against the honing surface 32 through direct pressure of thefingers thereagainst as shown in Fig. 5. The spring member 30 tends tohold the rearward portion of the blade flat against the base. In thestructure shown in these figures, a blade which is relatively inflexiblemight be sharpened through the blade being permitted to tilt against theresistance of the spring 39 to bring its forward edge into propercontact with the honing surface. Tilting to bring the forward edge intohoning engagement instead of flexing for the same purpose is analternative method of operation.

The thickness of the base and the position of the blade engaging lug issuch that when a razor blade is supported upon the base and engaged bythe lug, one edge portion of the blade projects forwardly beyond theforward edge of the base such a distance that when such edge p rtion isdepressed toward the surface upon which the base rests it will contactsuch surface along its beveled edge only. Normally the blade when notdepressed projects forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base in aplane parallel to the plane of the base and spaced above the surfaceupon which the base rests a distance equal to the thickness of the base.

4 One preferred-method of operation is to move the holder forwardly andbackwardly along a line parallel to the section line 2--2 and hold theblade down in honing contact with the surface 32 during its rearwardmovement and to release the downward pressure of the fingers therefromduring the forward direction of movement. Upon release of this downwardpressure the forward portion of the blade will spring'upwardly to theposition shown in Fig. 2 so as not to burr up the edge of the blade asit is moved forwardly.

The base is preferably shown as formed of two thicknesses or layers ofmaterial which are separable at the forward edge. Though as heretoforestated it might be formed of a single thickness of material. With twoseparable thicknesses it is possible to preserve during use the properthickness of base to insure the beveled edge of the blade beingproperlyurged against the flat honing surface. A thin shim l3 of anysuitable substance may be inserted between the lower layer and the.upper layer at the forward edge to take up for wear of the bottom faceof the lower layer. Such shim is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing and itis apparent that it might be inserted between these two layers at. theforward edge of the base by spreading these layers apart and that shimsof varying thickness might be used.

What I-claimis:

1. A sharpening device for holding arazor blade during honing comprisinga flat plate like base provided with a finger gripping portion and witha blade positioning part, said base having a flat bottom surface adaptedto rest flat upon a honing surface and having a flat upper surfaceportion of a length to support a'razor blade throughout its lengthandadapted to support said razor blade engaged with said part andprojecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and with theforwardly proiecting portion normally occupying a plane parallel to theplane of the base and spaced above the flat surface upon which the baserests, said forwardly projectin portion of the blade adapted to bedepressed to bring its beveled edge adjacent to its forward margin intohoning contact with the flat surface upon which the base rests.

2. A-sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger grippingportion and a blade positioning part, said 'base having a flat bottomsurface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having a fiatupper surface portion of a length to support a razor blade throughoutits length and adapted to support a razor blade engaged with said partand projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base and withthe forwardly projecting portion spaced above a flat surface upon whichthe base rests and occupying a plane parallel to the plane of the base,said base having such a thickness compared with the thickness of theblade and with the forward projection of the blade beyond the base thatupon depression of the forwardly projecting portion of the bladethroughout a distance equal to the thickness of the base the bevelededge of the blade is brought into honing contact with the flat surfaceupon which the base rests adjacent only to the outer margin of saidbeveled edge.

3. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger grippingportion and with an upwardly projecting blade positioning part, saidbase having a fiat bottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honingsurface and having a flat upper surface portion of a length to support arazor blade throughout its length and adapted to support a razor bladeengaged with said part and projecting forwardly beyond the forward edgeof the base and with said forwardly projecting portion spaced above aflat surface upon which the base rests and occupying a plane parallel tothe plane of the base, and depressible means secured to the baseengaging the blade spaced forwardly beyond the forward edge of the baseand depressible to urge the forward beveled edge of the blade intohoning contact with the surface upon which the base rests.

4. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a fiat plate like base provided with a finger grippingportion and with a blade positioning part, said base having a flatbottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having aflat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor bladethroughout its length and adapted to support a. razor blade positionedby said part projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the baseand with the forwardly projecting portion spaced above a fiat surfaceupon which the base rests and normally occupying a plane parallel to theplane of the base, said device provided with blade depressing meanshaving a part adapted to bear against the blade throughout its lengthand adjacent and parallel to the forward edge of the blade, said meansadapted to be depressed to urge the beveled forward edge of the bladeuniformly throughout its length against the fiat surface upon which thebase rests.

5. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a flat blade supporting base provided with upwardlyprojecting finger gripping side walls and provided with a blade engagingpart projecting upwardly and rearwardly of the base adjacent to theforward edge thereof, said base adapted to support a razor blade engagedwith said part and with the blade projecting forwardly beyond theforward edge of the base and with the forwardly projected portion of theblade spaced above a fiat surface upon which the base rests by adistance equal to the thickness of the base, blade depressing meanspivotally supp rted between said side walls and having a blade engagingportion adapted to engage a blade throughout its length and adjacent toits forward margin and spaced forwardly beyond the forward edge of thebase, said means being swingable to depress the forwardly projectingportion of the blade to bring its forward beveled margin into honingcontact with the surface upon which the base rests.

6. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a base provided with a finger gripping portion and a bladepositioning part adapted to engage a blade supported upon the base withthe blade projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base in a'plane extending substantially parallel to the plane of the base and withthe forwardly projecting portion of the blade spaced above the surfaceupon which the base rests by the thickness of the base, said forwardlyprojecting portion of the blade adapted to be depressed tourge the edgeof the blade against the surface upon which the base rests, said baseconsisting of an upper and a lower thickness of material and means beingprovided for spacing said two thicknesses of material apart underneaththe blade to adjust the thickness of the base below the blade.

7. A sharpening device for holding a razor blade during honingcomprising a flat plate like base provided with a finger grippingportion and with a blade positioning part, said base having. a flatbottom surface adapted to rest flat upon a honing surface and having afiat upper surface portion of a length to support a razor bladethroughout its length and adapted to support a razor blade positioned bysaid part projecting forwardly beyond the forward edge of the base andwith the forwardly projecting portion spaced above a flat surface uponwhich the base rests and normally occupying a plane parallel to theplane of the base, said device provided with blade depressing meanshaving a part adapted to bear against the blade throughout its lengthand adjacent and parallel to the forward edge of the blade, said meansadapted to be depressed to urge the beveled forward edge of the bladeuniformly throughout its length against the flat surface upon which thebase rests, said blade depressing means having a flexible part extendingtransversely of the blade and bearing thereagainst and holding thatportion of the blade resting upon the base flat against the base.

PETER C. RHEGAS.

